02.13.13 02.13.13 >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> car in this chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun violence. they deserve a vote. >> president obama uses his state of the union to urge congress to tackle gun-control. he will speak to kathy, and, in chicago professor and organizer

organized a petition of hadiya pendleton. we will also speak to obama's climate change policies. >> i can announce over the next year another 34,000 american troops will come home from afghanistan. this drawdown will continue. by the end of next year, our war in afghanistan will be over. >> while obama says the war will be over next year, the pentagon says the troops will remain until the 2024. we will speak to activist kathy kelly. and we will speak to aura bogado about what he did not say about immigration. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president obama gave further details on his second term

agenda tuesday night with the annual state of the union address. on the environment, obama called on lawmakers to take action against global warming with a number of victims of gun violence in attendance, obama also urged congress to vote on new gun control measures, including background checks and bans on massive ammunition magazines. >> congress will not act soon enough to protect future generations. i will. i will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take now and in the future to reduce pollution, prepare our communities or the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy. it has been two months since newtown. i know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce them violence, but

this time is different. overwhelming majorities of americans, american that believe in the second amendment, have come together around common- sense reform. >> president obama also called on congress to raise the federal wage and toation. in afghanistan, obama announced his plan to end the longest war in u.s. history by withdrawing half of the forces by the end of the year. >> our forces will move into a support role bought at can forces take the lead. tonight, i can announce over the next year another 34,000 american troops will come home from afghanistan. this straw that will continue. by the end of next year, our war in afghanistan will be over. >> we will have more from the state of the union address and reactions after the headlines.

the u.s. airstrike in afghanistan have killed 10 civilians. the strike hit a suspected taliban hideouts. most of the dead were women and children. california police say they believe former los angeles police officer christopher dorner has died in a final standoff in the snowy mountains of big bear. a suspect believed to be dorner took refuge in a cabin after a car chase. a single gunshot was reportedly heard from within the cabin before it erupted in flames. officers are now testing the dead body recovered from the site to confirm they have dorner's remains. the shares deputy was killed in the gunfight between police and dorner, bringing his victims to four. >> he abandoned his vehicle, fled on foot into the forest,

barricaded himself in a cabin, and at that time, there was an exchange of fire between law enforcement personnel outside the cabin and the suspect inside. after that fight, two that the sheriffs were shot. one of them died after being taken to loma linda. the second is in surgery and is expected to survive. >> this would end a manhunt after dorner promised to exact revenge on the lapd after his firing in 2008. the senate armed services committee has voted to advance chuck hagel's secretary of defense nomination to a full vote. the vote was held along party lines with carl levin backing hagel. >> if there is a risk here, is that the defeat of this nomination will leave the

department of defense leaderless and a timely basis commence budgetary challenges and paramilitary is engaged in combat operations overseas. such an absence of senior leadership would be unlikely to benefit our national defense or our men and women in uniform. >> the next secretary of defense will have to deal with a world on fire. i just believe the testimony of center hagel was not reassuring. i do not think he came across a clear and convincing that he had a policy against iran. >> the un security council has condemned north korea for its latest nuclear test. on tuesday, the council voted to censure the north korean government and vowed punitive measures. north korea called it a response to u.s. hostility, including the tightening of sanctions. on tuesday, the state department

confirmed it received a warning from north korea of a pending nuclear test but that no date had been specified. syrian rebels had captured a military airport near the northern city of aleppo. the news comes from one ongoing violence in the capital of damascus, where both sides are fighting for control of key roads. on tuesday, navi pillay, the u.n. commissioner for human rights said that civilians are paying the price. >> the security council is at its best when it acts in a unified voice. a lack of consensus on syria and resulting in action has been disastrous for civilians on all sides. we will be judged against the tragedy that has unfolded before our eyes. this council, as well as those of us in key positions within the un will likely be asked what we did.

>> according to navi pillay, the death toll in syria is approaching 70,000. barring the forces have broken up a protest with tear gas and stun grenades. hundreds of people tried to march to a demonstration downtown. more protests are planned as a band to demonstrations. italy's top intelligence official has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the kit that make up an islamic cleric. nicolo pollari was conducted in 2003. omar was taken to u.s. bases in italy and germany before taking to egypt where he suffered torture. pollari will not have to serve jail time until his efforts for appeal are exhausted.

the sentencing comes days after an italian court gave the station chief seven years in absentia. 20 others have also been convicted in the case. military officials at guantanamo have admitted they've placed hidden microphones in the rooms where defense attorneys meet with detainees. the disclosure arose in the ongoing pre-trial hearings for the alleged 9/11 mastermind khalid sheikh mohammed, and four others. they insisted that the military never listens in on attorney- client conversations. defense attorneys have expressed doubts about that claim and say their clients' trials may have been compromised. the senate has voted to expand the scope of the land of violence against women act. the legislation affirms an earlier vote granting domestic bond protections to 30 million undocumented immigrants.

lgbt people and native american women. 22 republicans voted against the measure, including marco rubio and rand paul. president obama has announced he has signed a new executive order to defend the u.s. from computer attacks overseas. the measure creates voluntary standards for network security and promotes information sharing with private companies that help run critical u.s. infrastructure. the order is part of a wide package of steps that includes the administration's self- declared right to launch a pre- emptive cyber military strike on targets should the white house deem it necessary to prevent an imminent computer attack from abroad. in new york, a decision to lift a ban on gas drilling process known as fracking is facing a delay after regulators said they needed more time to complete a key health review.

the move could delay a decision on fracking for months, leaving the ban in place. on tuesday, the top environmental regulators said he may speed the process by issuing permits before final regulations are created, if the health department conclude the process is safe. critics say fracking, which involves blasting liquid into deeper underground rock, threatens the environment, water supply, and public health. a federal judge has granted class-action status to a lawsuit challenging the new york city police tactic known as stop and frisk. a judge ruled that a group of residents can bring claims on behalf of hundreds or thousands of their neighbors for being accosted outside of the buildings in which they live. the ruling comes one month after judge scheindlin ordered the police to seize stop and frisk procedures. those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and

peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> i'm nermeen shaikh. today we spend the hour looking at president obama's state of the union address and proposals on the economy, climate change, afghanistan, and immigration. we begin with his call for new gun control. obama called on congress to reform gun-control measures, including background checks and bans and what he described as weapons of war and massive ammunition magazines. obama said each of these proposals deserves a vote in congress. >> if you want to vote no, that is your choice, but the proposal deserves a vote. in the two months since the newtown, or the 1000 birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, have been stolen from our lives by a bullet from a gun. more than 1000.

one of those we lost was a young girl named hadiya pendleton. she was 15 years old. she loved fake newtons she was so good to her friends, they all thought they were her best friend. just three weeks ago, she was here in washington with her classmates, performing for her country and my inauguration. one week later, she was shot and killed in a chicago park after school. just a mile away from my house. parents are in this chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun violence. they deserve a vote. [applause]

they deserve a boat. -- a vote. [applause] they deserve a vote. [applause] gabby giffords deserves a vote. the families of new town deserve a vote. the families of aurora deserves a vote. the families of tucson, blacksburg, and the callous other communities report by gun violence, they deserve a vote. >> we are joined by two guests. cathy cohen is a political science professor at the river city of chicago. her group began a petition for the president to return to chicago to address the crisis of

gun violence after the murder of hadiya pendleton. obama plans to visit chicago on friday. we're also joined by bob herbert, a distinguished fellow from -- will come to you both. let's begin with professor cohen. talk about president obama's addressing of the issue of gun violence as the parents of hadiya pendleton sat next to the first lady. >> i do not think there is any denying that that was probably the most moving part of the state of the union address. to hear the president talk about hadiya's life as well as her horrific death, to finally have him personalize this issue, talk about the fact that there are young people dying in chicago within blocks or miles from his house, clearly was an important for the president, really a

healing moment for the city. we all continued to mourn hadiya's death, the death of all young people killed by gun violence. but we are still waiting, i think, for a comprehensive discussion from the president, comprehensive speech to talk about all the underlying factors that contribute to gun violence. we're still waiting for him, hopefully on friday, to talk about the unemployment that young people face, the inadequate schooling they face, a prominent policies around incarceration, the trauma that they face from violence in their neighborhood. without that type of discussion, we are never really going to move forward and deal with and stem the violence and the lives of these young people. >> professor cohen, explain what you did after hadiya was murdered, one week after she performed at the inauguration.

>> it was not just me, i want to be clear. was the black youth project, of which i am a member and a founder. we were all sitting in a room with staff, voicing our frustration with the fact that we keep watching young people die in our city and it seems, in fact, the country does not understand the worth of their lives. it felt like we need to add our voices to an increasing collected in the city calling for the president to take some moral leadership on this issue. so we decided to start a petition. we had heard others talk about the president coming home, but we felt there needed to be an added voice of hopefully thousands of people telling the president he needed to come to chicago, he needed to come home, and the need to talk about gun

violence in a comprehensive way. we mounted a petition and then we asked aisha miller if she would join. she is a friend and colleague that we trust and know. she had lost a cousin to gun violence. we thought it would be critical to have someone who has gone through this loss also asking the president to come home to speak about gun violence. we mounted a petition not long after hadiya's death. 10 days later, there were over 47,000 signatures. i believe it was on sunday that the president announced he would come to chicago this friday to talk of a gun violence. >> chicago is often cited as an example of why gun-control laws do not work. it has some of the strictest gun acquisition laws, but at the same time, among the highest levels of gun violence. can you talk about that?

>> absolutely. there are some on the right who will say, look at chicago, this is my gun restrictions do not work. i would say this is why we need comprehensive gun control legislation. the truth is there are no gun shops in chicago. but if one travels five minutes outside of the city, you can buy a gun -- individuals -- and you can see the illegal flow of guns into the city. so without comprehensive gun legislation, including background checks, other types of legislation and regulation, even though we have very strict laws in chicago, those laws are easily violated by going outside the city, going into indiana, and that is what we have seen. last year, the chicago police department confiscated over 7400 illegal guns in the city.

>> bob herbert, i want to bring you into the conversation to ask what you think the likelihood is of successful gun-control laws being passed. surely after the address last night, republican from oklahoma said obama's agenda on gun control was a disaster and that as congress contemplates new legislation, i will oppose anything that further restricts the second amendment or its contribution to the free exercise of all of our constitutional rights. >> i am not hopeful about any comprehensive gun control legislation moving forward. republicans are a problem, but so are a lot of democrats. it does not look like we are going to get an assault weapons ban even, so it is starting to look like this gun-control push is much ado about nothing. but i could not agree more with ms. cohen.

in addition to addressing the problem with guns, which we should be, we have to address the issues of joblessness, poverty, loss of hope, despair in these inner city neighborhoods that are driving so many of our young people to violence. it is not just comprehensive gun control that we need. we need a comprehensive policy to address violence in this country, and i do not see anything happening on any front. >> i wanted to go to this issue of guns and the republican response, which was interest in the divided between the tea party, rand paul, and marco r ubio of florida. rubio called for greater calls against gun-control. >> unconstitutionally undermining second amendment rights of law-abiding americans

is not the way to do it. >> bob herbert, your response? >> we need copper into gun- control but we also need to go into inner-city and begin to do gun buyback programs on an intensive scale. we need to ban assault weapons and those ridiculous clips. we need to have comprehensive gun registration laws, licensing laws. we need to move all those fronts. we also needed to something about the manufacturing of guns in this country, which is out of control. we have 300 million guns in a society of 300 million people? it but does not make sense. too many people are making too much money off of the gun and violence industry. >> the polls show overwhelmingly americans and gun owners want gun-control.

democrats have joined with republicans in dropping the issue. it goes to the issue of money and politics and the national rifle association. to you see a change with president obama and congress? you have democratic senators who will be fighting this, too. >> i do not see much of a change with a democratic congress. we have gone backwards from the clinton era when we had an assault weapons ban. there was a change in the language nationally. perhaps more important, there are an awful lot of people now outside of government, elected officials, pushing on this issue. cathy cohen, her organization is an example. there are many across the country. if we can begin to change this done and violence culture in this country, we may be able to make some headway.

>> we are going to move onto the economy after the break. we are to ask cathy cohen and bob herbert to stay with us. we are going to talk about afghanistan. we will also be joined later by aura bogado to talk about what president obama did not say about immigration. [♪]

>> "shiny happy people" by r.e.m. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> president obama opened his state of the user with a call to revive the middle class. congress to back his proposals.

>> businesses have created over 6 million new jobs. we buy more american cars and we have been five years. and less for oil than we have in 20. [applause] our housing market is healing. our stock market is rebounding, and consumers, patients, and homeowners into a stronger protection than ever before. [applause] so, together, we have cleared a way we did away the rubble of crisis. piquancy with renewed confidence that the state of our union is strong. [applause]

but we gather here knowing that there are millions of americans whose hard work and dedication have not yet been rewarded. our economy is adding jobs but to many people still cannot find full-time employment. corporate profits have skyrocketed to all-time highs, but for more than a decade, wages and income have barely budged. it is our generation task then to reignite the true engine of america's economic growth, a rising, thriving middle-class. [applause] it is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country. the idea that if you work hard and your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where

you come from, the matter what you look like or who you love. >> that was president obama in his state of the union address. bob herbert and cathy cohen are with us. your response to president obama? >> i agree that the unfinished task is to make sure that those who work hard and take care are the responsibilities can get ahead, but he has not, and neither has anyone in congress laid out how we will get there. the biggest problem facing the country is still and climate. too many people out of work into many underemployed. the president touched on something of the need to do. we need to increase infrastructure, invest in research and development, climate change, whether rising buildings from coast to coast. all those things cost money. he also said that nothing he is proposing will add even a dime to the budget deficit, so one

part of the speech is fighting another, so i do not know how we make headway if we are not going to make investments in those things that will put people back to work. >> you pointed out a report that talks among the top 1% capturing 120% of all income gains between 2009 and 2011. to what extent do you think president obama's speech addressed this imbalance? >> he mentions it, but he does not address it. if you have the top 1% getting the 121% of income gains, it meets the standards of the rest are declining. that is what has been happening. median income has gone down since the recession ended. poverty is expanding. 50 million people officially

poor in this country, another 50 million close to pour. that is close to a third of the entire population. so there is no way to address challenges that are that enormous, without making enormous investments. yet, we are in a period out of austerity, so i am not sure how you begin to slice through the gloom. >> let's talk about the minimum wage. president obama called on congress to raise the minimum wage and automatically adjust it to inflation. >> let's declare in the wealthiest nation on earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour. we should be able to get that done. [applause] this single step would raise the incomes of millions of working

families. it could mean the difference between groceries and the food bank, rent or eviction, scraping by were finally getting ahead. for businesses across the country, it would mean customers with more money in their pockets. all lot of folks out there would probably need less help from government. in fact, working folks should not have to wait year after year for the minimum wage to go up while ceo pay has never been higher. here is an idea that governor romney and i agreed on last year. let's tie the minimum wage to the cost of living so that it becomes a wage that you can live on. >> how significant is this call? >> it is critical that the president attached himself to an increase in the minimum wage. the concern is that there is other legislation that has been offered that puts the minimum wage at $10, in some cases,

$10.10, so we see a form of backtracking. i am not sure that is flattering to the middle class. but i think it actually speaks to a glaring absence in the president's state of the union, which is a serious discussion of poverty in this country. we talk about aspiring to the middle-class, expanding the middle-class, these are all good things to be focused on, but as bob said, almost a third of the country is close to party. we need to have a clearer sense of what we will do for those communities, individuals to change their lives and provide them with real opportunities for mobility. >> some critics have pointed out, in 2008, president obama in his election campaign, promised to raise the minimum wage to $9.50, which never occurred. you were speaking about meeting

income. talk about the discrepancies of median income in the u.s. across race and class. >> one of the thing that is not talked about very much that so many of the people who are at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder are racial and ethnic minorities. if you look at african- americans, pew says the median household income is around $5,000. that is really nothing at all. i was up at brandeis university a few months ago for a seminar on poverty. one of the people presenting was talking about the median wealth of single african-american women with children under the age of 18. their median wealth is $1. that is just crazy. >> explain that.

>> wealth includes any money that you would have in a bank, assets, stocks, bonds, the value of your home, etc. the median for that group that they were talking about is $1. basically no money at all. the meeting is in the middle, so that means 50%, the median is less than $1. it is impossible to survive there. if i could make a comment on minimum wage, it is important to raise the minimum wage. we have talked for decades about the importance of manufacturing jobs in creating the middle- class in the post-world war ii era. people have lamented the loss of those so-called good jobs. but if you recall, those jobs were not always good. the people that worked in the steel mills, plants, mines, they

were dangerous, terrible, low- paying. because of government support in some cases and especially because of the support of labor unions, those lousy jobs at the time were transformed into a very good jobs that build the american middle-class. we can do the same thing with low-wage service jobs in this country right now. we could turn those jobs by increasing the support and pay for those jobs we do we could turn them into jobs that would begin to rebuild the middle class. >> let's talk about what causes people to become bankrupt and become impoverished. the president said the biggest driver of long-term debt is the rising cost of health care for an aging population. he said he would protect medicare but was open to reforms. >> i am prepared to deny her formidable achieve the same amount of savings by the beginning of the next decade as the reforms proposed by the bipartisan bowles simpson

commission. already the affordable care act is helping to slow the growth of health-care cost. [applause] and the reforms i am proposing go even further. we will reduce taxpayer subsidies to prescription drug companies and ask more from the wealthiest seniors. we will bring down costs by changing the way our government pays for medicare because our medical bills should not be based on the number of tests order or days spent in the hospital. it should be based on the quality of care our seniors receive. [applause] and i am open to additional reforms from both parties so long as they do not violate the guarantee of a secure retirement. >> what is he signaling? >> he wants to do something about the rising cost of

medicare. he was not specific at all, but it sends a chill through me. the last thing you want to do now is attack medicare or social security. what i really wanted all along was an expansion of medicare, so you get the type of coverage that medicare provides to more and more americans. to begin to pull back on that is frightening. he was the very suspect -- specific, so i cannot be sure what he was talking about. >> another issue that president obama addressed last night was climate change. during his speech, he heartened environmentalists with one of the strongest statements on the topic in history. >> for the sake of our children and future, we must do more to combat climate change. [applause]

now, it is true no single event makes a trend, but the fact is, the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15. heat waves, drought, wildfires, floods all are now more frequent and intense. we can choose to believe superstorm sandy and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires states have ever seen were all just a free coincidence, or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science and act before it is too late. [applause] the good news is, we can make

minimal progress on this issue while driving strong economic growth. i heard this congress to get together and pursue a bipartisan market-based solution to climate change, like the one john mccain and joe lieberman work on a few years ago. but if congress will not act soon to protect future generations, i will. [applause] i will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy. >> some environmentalists were disappointed he did not go further and call for carbon emissions cuts, and other issues. >> in my view, climate change is where necessity and opportunity

meet. we have to do something. we see what is happening all around us. this also is the pathway to the future, it would seem to me, in terms of the economy, other aspects challenging the united states. if we were to address climate change the way we address the challenge of something like world war ii, and we said we have to do something about this, we are going to put people to work, we are going to do research and development, conservation, we are going to whether rise buildings from coast-to-coast, the united states could become the world leader in this issue. we begin to develop new products, new automobiles, new forms of energy, and that sort of thing, would become the driving force for industry, going forward, under the way to

revitalize the economy. we should be bringing together and the brightest minds in this country for an obsolete long- term campaign to fight climate change. -- absolute long-term campaign to fight climate change. make it like the moon shot. the cliche is a new marshall plan. that is the root got to be following, at this point. but it also requires tremendous investment. we have to figure out how to pay for these investments. >> finally, the issue of responsibility, wall street nurses main street. who pays for the crisis we are in and who does not? >> one of the things that has been problematic, the reason we have this imbalance of wealth and income in the country, the sacrifices we have gone through as a result of our economic problems have not been properly shared. most people's standards of

living are declining while the top is doing great. we should be raising taxes -- this is heresy -- but we should be raising taxes on everyone because we need to raise revenue to make these long-term investments required. but of course, the taxes for those near the top of to be met raised much more than those of middle or low income. but this is not an issue that has any kind of political resonance in washington. >> thank you for being with us, bob herbert. cathy cohen, thank you for being with us as well. we will certainly follow up when president obama goes to chicago on friday. when we come back, kathy kelly joins us from chicago, just back from afghanistan, to respond to president obama's statements about war.

[♪]

>> "changes" (that's just the way it is) by tupac shakur. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> we continue our coverage of the present state of the union address, turning to his statements on afghanistan. >> tonight we stand united in to the troops to sacrifice every day to protect us. because of them we can say with confidence that america will complete its mission in afghanistan and achieve our objective of defeating the core of al qaeda. [applause]

already we have brought home 33,000 of our brave servicemen and women. this spring, our forces will move into a support role, while afghan security forces take the lead. tonight, i can announce, over the next year, 34,000 american troops will come home from afghanistan. by the end of next year, our war in afghanistan will be over. [applause] beyond 2014, america's

commitment to a unified and sovereign afghanistan will indoor. but the nature of our commitment will change. we are negotiating an agreement with afghan government that focuses on two missions, training and equipping afghan forces, so the country does not again slip into chaos, and counter-terrorism efforts that allow us to pursue al-qaeda and its affiliates. >> the announcement comes as a u.s. strike and afghanistan has killed 10 civilians. most of the dead were women and children. for more, we are joined by kathy kelly, she just returned from her most recent trip to afghanistan. your response to president obama saying that the u.s. troops will be out next year, although the pentagon says it could be another 10 years?

>> president obama is a hawkish president. the pentagon has said that the troops will be in afghanistan until 2024 and beyond. in the 21st century military that the president and pentagon want to create, it unnecessarily need huge military bases all across afghanistan. what they want our special operations troops working in coordination with the capacity for drone strikes, but denies drone strikes and drone surveillance. what you mentioned in relation to the tragedy, just less than, it is so symptomatic of what happens. the civilians are at high risk, the antagonism towards the u.s. continues to rise, and the taliban says until all the troops are out, they will continue to fight. so afghans are saddled with this ongoing war. >> you spend one month and

afghanistan recently. can you talk about the people he met and what their reactions have been to the u.s. presence? >> printers are so harsh in afghanistan. -- winters are so harsh in afghanistan. this time i was able to go up to the mountains to visit with those who are pushed up to a mountainside because they can afford piped water, so they move higher where they shell almonds all day and you the shells to fill their home. the conditions for people in afghanistan are deplorable. in fact, particularly in the south of the country, the un is very alarmed. over 1 million children under

age five are suffering from acute malnutrition. the expenditures that the nine it states development groups have made are now approaching $1 billion. and yet afghanistan is still considered one of the worst places in the world that a person can live. 35% unemployment among men. education system is completely correct. this correction is linked to the way that the united states has put money into the pockets of corrupt warlords across afghanistan. >> what about not only the u.s. military, but the private companies -- the number of people serving in the company's equal the number of soldiers. >> it is anecdotal, but every time i travel into afghanistan, the plan is filled with security

contractors, military people. the black water co., now in its third renaming -- now called acadamie -- is building a new base outside of kabul for training of special operations forces. these are some of the most fearsome military people in the world, navy seals, army rangers. these are people who engage in a despicable night raids which has caused so much anger and confusion with afghans. reporters have talked about how soldiers tornado through homes, hurling bodies across the room. many people have been killed returned to be civilians. and then later you will hear an apology from the top military brass in afghanistan.

the night raids, and drone surveillance, in drone attacks, all can be accomplished by special operations forces. that is the future military presence in afghanistan. >> in addition to that, in a recent report found, torture was used by security forces, forces that have been trained by the u.s. are you familiar with the report, did you hear anything about this while in afghanistan? >> people are terrified of being arrested and imprisoned because of the possibility of torture and also because you can be held for months and months without charge. the united states is still completing construction of three new prisons with possibly would be turned over to afghanistan. karzai himself, the president of afghanistan, says he believes

that the un report is true. the claim that the united states will be able to effectively train the many different militarized forces in afghanistan is very hard to believe, because so many of the people drafted into the afghan military are illiterate, many of them are there because they are desperate for money, but there are other kinds of security which are crucial, essential in afghanistan. food security, health care delivery security. some security that people could get an education for their children. the resources and ingenuity constantly gets poured into military. >> we have to break, but quickly, what do you believe needs to be done? >> every country that has it evaded -- invaded and wrecked

afghanistan should pay in reparations to help rebuild the country. >> thank you for being with us. this was your 12th trip to afghanistan? >> i think that is right. >> kathy kelly, thank you. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. >> as we wrap up our look at the present state of the union address, we look in his statements on how to deal with the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the united states. >> we are stronger when the harness me talents of hopeful immigrants. right now, leaders from business, labor, law enforcement, faith communities,

they all agree that the time has passed -- come to pass comprehensive immigration reform. now it the time to get it done. now is the time to get it done. [applause] real reform means stronger border security, and we can build on the progress my administration has already made, putting more boots on the southern border than any time in history, and reducing illegal crossings to the lowest levels in 40 years. real reform means establishing irresponsible pathway to earn citizenship, the pathway that includes passing a background check, paying taxes and a meaningful penalty, learning english, and going to the back of the line behind the folks tried to come here illegally. >> for more we are joined by a

reporter in new york, aura bogado. she wrote a piece just after president obama spoke. she wrote about what president obama did not say about immigration. her latest article is "dreamers fight deportations." >> great to be here. we heard the same focus on border security when, at the time, he mentioned, -- people were hoping to hear a halt to deportations. there were at least five dreamers in the audience. one of them was not even eligible for the dream act, even though she has worked tirelessly for a perioit. because she is 32 years old, she missed the cutoff date. she is the founder of united we

dream. she said she was honored to be there. >> who invited her? >> one of the centers, i am not sure. she is happy to be there, have been that obama has an inclusive agenda, in terms of recognizing lgbt partners,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,